The present invention relates to food treatment systems such as vertical rise dryers, smokers, curing chambers, ovens or warmers, coolers, and freezers.
Conventionally, several different food treatment system configurations have been used to smoke, cure, dry, cook, cool, or freeze food products such as meat products so as to increase production capacity while attempting to limit the floor space required for carrying out same. In so doing, vertical rise systems have been used with spiral conveyors to move food vertically through the oven while exposing the food to certain processing conditions as it moves from top to bottom or bottom to top.
For example, the Northfield LST (Large Spiral Technology) freezer available from Frigoscandia Equipment (fmcfoddtech.com) is a high capacity non-self stacking spiral freezer that employs spiral conveyors with belts available in different widths. Ryson International Inc. of Newport News, Va., provides spiral conveyors that allegedly feature a small footprint and space savings over other brands with load capacities of up to 200 fpm.
Another example is the TURBO-Dryer(copyright) from Wyssmont (wyssmont.com). The TURBO-Dryer(copyright) uses a stack of slowly rotating circular trays. In operation, food is fed onto the top tray and, after one revolution, is wiped onto the next lower tray where the operation is repeated. The trays are enclosed in a vertical enclosure that circulates heated air or gas about the food on the trays. Each level in the enclosure may be held at a uniform temperature or the enclosure may be configured with zoned temperature regions having different temperatures.
Yet another example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,265 which describes conveying pepperoni meat to a conventional spiral dryer which includes a number of tiers (typically about 38-42) according to the initial moisture level, the desired final moisture level, the relative humidity of the air, the total amount of water to be removed, the temperature, and the conveyor speed.
Nonetheless, there remains a need to provide increased capacity food processing system configurations which limit the amount of dedicated floor space required to support the system in food processing facilities.
The present invention provides mass production food processing methods, systems, and apparatus with increased capacity over conventional designs. In certain embodiments, the methods, systems and apparatus are configured to direct food to travel serially over side-by-side travel paths so as to travel greater than one, and typically, a plurality of revolutions about a tier or level in a food-processing unit before moving to the next tier. Advantageously, such an arrangement can increase the amount of product that can be concurrently processed and/or reduce the unused volume in vertical rise systems over conventional designs.
In certain embodiments, cooperating side-by-side conveyors on each tier can be configured (such as pairs or more of continuously circulating conveyor belts) so that the food travels first on a first conveyor belt and then moves to an adjacent belt as the food travels greater than one revolution (and typically at least about 1.25-2 revolutions) about a majority of the tiers or levels. In other embodiments, the same conveyor can be used to provide the more than one revolution in each tier (diverting the food into different tracks within the same conveyor) or looping the conveyor to define a greater than one revolution travel path. In certain embodiments, the food item can be physically diverted or dropped to a next adjacent underlying tier for further processing. The food item can be an elongated (preferably a substantially continuous length of food product) reducing the amount of ends which may be discarded or reprocessed.
Certain embodiments of the invention include methods for directing food through a multi-tier food processor. The method includes conveying at least one food item over a predetermined travel path in a food processor having a plurality of overlying or underlying tiers which are longitudinally spaced such that the at least one food item travels greater than one revolution in a first tier before it moves to the next tier (which may be aligned or misaligned as desired).
In certain embodiments, each tier can be configured with a plurality of side-by-side travel perimeter paths thereon. Each of the travel perimeter paths can form a serial portion of the predetermined travel path so as to direct the at least one food item to travel a predetermined distance about a major portion of a first perimeter path and then alter its travel path on the respective tier to travel a predetermined distance about a major portion of a second perimeter path. The second perimeter path can be different than the first (i.e., a different length or shape and is typically located on one of the outside or inside of the other adjacent perimeter path(s)).
Other embodiments are directed to a food processing apparatus. The apparatus can include a housing defining an enclosure and having a food inlet and a food outlet. A plurality of stacked tiers can be posited to reside in the housing. Each of the tiers can be configured with a plurality of side-by-side cooperating continuous conveyors configured to move a food product in a predetermined travel path over a primary surface of a respective tier such that the food product moves in a first perimeter path having a first position and then to a second perimeter path having a second position different from the first position on the tier so as to travel greater than one revolution in each tier.
The apparatus may also include a heating chamber disposed in the housing such that it heats at least one of the tiers. The heating chamber is configured to heat the food product as it moves through the heating chamber on the conveyors. In addition, in certain embodiments, the plurality of side-by-side cooperating continuous conveyors are a cooperating pair of conveyors. Each tier can further comprises a transfer junction operably associated with the conveyor pair which directs the food product from the first conveyor to the second conveyor and a tier transfer region where the food is directed to the next selected tier.
In certain embodiments, in lieu of cooperating conveyors (or with cooperating conveyors) the transfer junction directs the food product to a new position or track within or on the same conveyor, thereby providing more than one revolution in each tier. Of course, combinations of single and cooperating conveyors can be used as desired.
Still other embodiments are directed to a large capacity vertical rise oven. The oven includes a housing with a food inlet and outlet. The housing can be configured and sized to enclose at least one heater and a plurality of stacked tiers therein. The oven can include a plurality of cooperating conveyors operably associated with each tier, the cooperating conveyors being configured to move an elongated food item serially over a major portion of the travel path of each of the cooperating conveyors to thereby provide more than one revolution in each tier. Alternatively, or in addition thereto, a conveyor can be configured with multiple tracks to define the greater than one revolution travel paths.
Another embodiment of the present invention is a multiple nested oven food processing apparatus. The nested oven can include: (a) a vertically extending outer oven having spaced apart inner and outer walls defining an enclosure therebetween and a food inlet and food outlet; and (b) a vertically extending inner oven defining an enclosure and having a food inlet and a food outlet. The outer oven is configured to receive and surround the inner oven. Each of the inner and outer ovens can be configured to provide separate temperature regulated (and moisture or humidity, air velocity, cooling, heating, sprinkling, gas, and the like) spaces. The outer and inner ovens can include a plurality of stacked tiers held within the respective enclosures and one conveyor or a plurality of cooperating conveyors operably associated with each tier. The conveyor or cooperating conveyors can be configured to move the at least one food item serially over a major portion of the travel path to thereby provide more than one revolution in each tier. The ovens can also include transfer means for directing the food to travel to the next selected (typically the adjacent) tier.
The foregoing and other objects and aspects of the present invention are explained in detail in the specification set forth below.